The Life and Times of Katie Gardner
by PeevesWinsAtLife
Summary: Katie Gardner has just moved from a farm in the country to the Big Apple. Her new school, Olympus High, seems to be a bit weird but acceptable... sort of. Join her on her quest battling a constantly angry principal, strange teachers, rouge basketballs and the events that play out from the moment she set foot in the school.
1. Chapter 1

I breathed in a huge lungful of not-so-fresh air, seeing that a car just passed me on the road. This, of course, made me cough and splutter, like a fish out of water. I still wasn't used to living in the city.

I heaved a deep sigh, not the first one since my family moved to New York City from the farm. I shouldered my backpack and set out for my new school.

Seeing that my family's apartment wasn't very far from campus I only had about a five minute walk. I was fine with that; if I left early enough, I figured that I could give Central Park a visit. Man I missed being surrounded by nature. But, I wouldn't complain. My grandma had gotten really sick the past few years, and just recently she had a pretty bad stroke, so my family thought it would be best if she was surrounded by family and people who could look after her.

I loved my grandma to bits. She would always have a good joke up her sleeve, and never failed to cheer me up. No matter the circumstance, granny could always bring a smile to my face.

I shook my head and set off. As it was my first day, and I haven't had the chance to scout the area around my apartment I decided to give the park a miss. _Later_, I thought wistfully.

I arrived at the school gates of Olympus High and was immediately greeted with a ball. Or rather, my face was greeted with a ball. Yes, those two got quite a close introduction. This, not surprisingly, made me fall to the ground, stumbling into a couple of people in the process.

"Whoa!" One of the people who I hit turned around. "What was that for?" They demanded, but as soon as they saw my extremely red cheek and a ball bouncing away, their expression softened and they extended their arm out to help me up. "Are you okay, looks like you went a few rounds with the ball." The rest of the people in the group laughed, which made my face burn red, well, the part that wasn't already the attractive shade of magenta.

I took their hand and got up off the ground and cracked a grin, "Never better. Give me a basket-ball any day, and I'll show it who's boss." This earned me some more laughs from the group. My eyes cleared from watering up and I got a look at who I was talking to.

She had slightly curly, honey blonde hair that was up in a pony-tail. Eyes that I first thought was blue, but looking closely were in fact grey. Tanned skin, and a look that immediately told you she was analysing your every movement. This made me uncomfortable and I shifted awkwardly.

"Don't worry about Travis and Conner, they're just showing off their _skill_." The girl who helped me up said while rolling her eyes. When she noticed how confused I was, a look of understanding crossed her face. "Newbie, are you?"

I nodded cautiously, you could never be too careful when you're at a new school.

She flashed me a smile as bright as day. "Well, my name is Annabeth. You need some help finding the reception? It is absolutely impossible to find without directions on the first day." I knew I would like her.

I extended my hand and said, "Katie," while Annabeth shook it.

"Yo! Conner, go get the ball, you worthless brother of mine." I turned around and saw a guy around my age and running towards Annabeth and I, then being joined by someone who looked exactly like the first, only he had a basket-ball under his arm.

My eyes widened considerably. When I say that these two looked alike is an understatement. Everything about the two was similar, from the mischievous glint in their blue eyes right down to the curls on their… ah… curly brown hair.

"That ball must have hit harder than I thought, 'cause I really do think I'm seeing double." I laughed.

"Oh, that's pretty bad if you're seeing two of me, wouldn't it be Conner?" The one of the left said.

"Definitely," the one on the right, Conner nodded seriously, "I mean, I would be concerned if I had to see double Travis. What a nightmare that would be. Hey, how do you even know she's seeing double of you, why not double of me?"

The one on the left, who must be Travis, grinned, "'Cause I am older and better looking than you my dear brother."

Conner snorted, "Dude, how many times must I say, you are older by like, twenty-five seconds and you can't be better looking than you, we're identical genius!"

Travis smirked, "And yet I'm still better looking than you."

Conner looked like he was going to respond, but Annabeth spoke up before anything happened. "Guys, after you've finished arguing, can you please just apologise to Katie for almost knocking her brains out, then run along."

The twins looked at her, then at me. It looked like I sparked the interest of one of them, Travis, I think it was? I couldn't tell. Anyways, his blue eyes started checking out my body, lingering around my chest, then snapped back up to my face when I crossed my arms.

He cracked me a grin. "Hey, uh,"

"Katie?" I suggested.

"Yeah, Katie," He checked his pockets, "It looks like I've lost my number, can I have yours?"

This made everyone around us laugh, and Conner gave an exasperated sigh, "Of all the pick-up lines you could have used in this situation, you used the lost number? Ugh, I don't even know how we are related; I'm disowning you as a brother."

Travis shrugged in his defence, "Never doubt a classic, bro, they have a certain… class, to them."

A girl behind me spoke up, "Go away you two. Despite what you think, not everyone thinks you are the answer to all their hopes and dreams." She had spikey black hair, electric blue eyes and an attitude that said _you annoy me, you'll be begging for mercy._

The twins took this as their cue to run back to whatever they were doing before; obviously they knew that she wasn't a person to mess with. Before they turned around, Travis winked at me.

The girl turned around and introduced herself as Thalia. "Don't get yourself caught up with those two, all it does is get you a detention and that means you have to deal with _Mr. D_." This made the rest of the group groaned. My best guess was that this _Mr. D_ was not a particularly liked figure in this school.

I got quickly introduced to Annabeth's group. There was: Thalia, the girl who warned me against the guys; then Juniper and Grover, who were dating; Beckendorf, who seemed like a nice guy, though he didn't say much; and lastly, a guy called Will Solace that was definitely a runner, or does something athletic.

Annabeth gave me directions to the office, and then decided that I would probably get lost any way, so she ended up walking me there. And I tell you what, I am glad she did; the school halls were like a labyrinth.

By the time we got there, the school bell rung and Annabeth cursed.

"Look, Annabeth," I said, "Why don't you just go to class, I'm sure I'll manage."

"Okay, but be careful with Mr D. He has a bit of a short temper." Annabeth warned.

I nodded in thanks. Before Annabeth left, she glanced into the waiting area and grimaced. I followed her view and saw a boy with astonishing black hair, and when he looked our way I found that he had bright green eyes. And he was sitting next to none other than the two… Travis and Conner?

I walked in and saw that the guy with green eyes was checking out Annabeth. I didn't comment, though I had to admit, that guy was hot! I got distracted from checking him out by Travis and Conner laughing together. I approached the receptionist.

"Um, excuse me? My name is Katie Gardener, and I'm new here, I was wondering what I need to do?" I asked the middle aged women in a floral skirt and a pink cardigan.

She looked bored, "Oh, yes. Here is your time table. Before you go to your first class you have to visit the principal so he can explain the rules and what you are expected at this school. Please take a seat." She said in a rather monotone voice. She must love her job.

Behind the door with a plaque engraved with _Mr D_ on it, I heard angry muttering until the voice called out, "Next!" And the three guys walked through the door, the twins looking smug, the other looking bored.

I only had to wait a few seconds until I heard angry shouting coming from the principal's office. I didn't have to listen hard to hear what was being said. Something about a 'disgrace to the school' and 'waste of time' and that he 'could be playing pinochle right now'. Huh, go figure.

The three finally got out of the office, with the same looks on their faces as when they went in. I wasn't so keen to go in after what I just heard, but when I heard the "Next!" I reluctantly went inside.

I was met with the sight of an aging man shuffling a card deck and glaring at the ceiling mumbling stuff like "Why me?", "twenty years of this, _twenty years_!" and "Of all the punishments in the world." Whoa, hold up, _punishments_?

Before I could comment on this, or do anything at all, such as walk back through the door and tell the receptionist that "I accidently went to the wrong school, sorry", Mr D looked over and snapped at me to sit down.

I sat down.

"Look," Mr D started, "You're new here so I'll give you the rundown: don't break the rules, don't create chaos and DO NOT interrupt me while I am playing pinochle. If you do happen to do any of these things you will be severely punished, I have no time for you br- ah, kids and your problems so please don't come to me if you need anything. Now go away." All the time he had been talking, my eyebrows were rising slowly but steadily up my forehead and were threatening to escape.

As soon as he dismissed me I didn't bother lingering around. I snatched up my bag and rushed out into the reception/office/whatever you wanted to call it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Right, so this has taken a while to write, but I had to re-do the plot. We all know how fun that is (sarcasm intended). Enjoy reading! Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Well, no duh that I don't own the characters or the series that this story was based on If I did I would be a very happy chappy.**

Of course being me, and my scatter-brainish ways, I knew I couldn't avoid a mess up. So I swore to myself that I would triple check everything I did beforehand. I wasn't too sure how long that was going to last seeing that I will almost certainly forget to check.

I looked up from my timetable to see if I had the right door, took a breath and knocked. No one answered so I rapped on the door a little harder and was greeted by a bemused looking teacher.

I stuck out my hand and said, a bit flustered "Katie Gardner, I'm knew at this school and this is my first class and I was told to go… here… and… I'm here." Okay, a LOT flustered.

The teacher looked and my hand and raised an eyebrow, "You don't say?" He stepped aside and let me through the door. I was greeted by a room full of restless teenagers who needed something else to focus on. Sadly that something else was me. I had half of them smirking and the other half just looking unimpressed while they sized me. I hated when people did that, so, when I was walking to a spare seat, I stared at them in turn and looked into my eyes. Then it was their turn to squirm. Only, the one person who didn't start feeling uncomfortable happened to be a person I was talking to before. One of the twins, though which one I wasn't sure. When he started wriggling his eyes at me I decided it was the guy, Travis, who was checking me out before he left with his brother.

I was sitting at my desk, already bored. I was trying to maintain the look that I was listening to whatever the teacher was saying, but really in dreaming of a world away from stifling hot class room, avalanches of homework and droning teachers. I have yet to find proof of such world.

While caught up in my wishful thinking of such a perfect world, I didn't notice that the class were all getting out their textbooks.

The teacher stalked up the row and loomed over me, "Well?" He demanded.

I bit back my retort of _Well what_? and smiled uncertainly. "Yes, Mr…uh… sir?" Dammit, what was his name?

"Mr Tantalus is what you will call me," He snapped, "and why aren't you doing the work I set you?" I knew I disliked this guy for a reason.

I didn't have an answer, and he knew too. He smirked and he took out a note pad. Wait, no, not a note pad. It was a detention slip. A detention! For what? At least three quarters of the class was talking, some lobbing paper balls at each other. Needless to say I was fuming as I took the slip. By the end of the class, I found out that I was not only the one having to stay after school. No, looks like the whole class would make a picnic out of it, though it didn't seem to particularly annoy anyone. If anything everyone seemed to look forward to it. Definitely not strange…

By lunch, I was exhausted and tired of having to say my name about fifty billion times. I had just paid for my A grade quality food, and admiring the glue that apparently goes by the name 'cheese' as made my way through the throng of teenagers with my lunch tray and headed for Annabeth's table. Even though she had invited me to sit with her group, I still stood awkwardly for a few seconds at the edge before one of them, Braken-something-or-rather. I've always been terrible with names. He smiled and made room for me next to him on the bench. I smiled gratefully at him, but his attention had been diverted to something behind me.

Thalia saw him staring and sniggered, "Still after Silena, are you Beckendorf?" _Beckendorf_! I gave myself a mental smack on the head.

Beckendorf remained silent, but quickly cut off his gaze from his 'Silena' and started eating. Thalia didn't pursue the topic, but she was smiling smugly, and since Beckendorf wasn't denying anything made her even bigger.

I turned to my own lunch and dug in. As I ate I listened to the various conversations around the table, though all seem to be centred on the inter-school basketball game that's coming up. Apparently Olympus High is versing its traditional annual game against Jupiter Academy.

Hmm, interesting.

* * *

Having finished my first day and a new school, I had the privilege of phoning my parents to inform them of my detention. I was expecting the worse, but they seemed distracted by packing so I decided to use the old "okayloveyouseeyoulaterbye" technique to get off the line.

I walked into the classroom that I was meant to have detention, then almost walked back out if I weren't rooted to the ground. I was witnessing two kids charge each other with swords, armour and works. All the desks were pushed up against the sides to allow maximum space for gutting each other.

I must have been a sight with my stunned mullet look because Annabeth ran up to me.

"Hi, Katie, did you get detention too?" She said, before laughing as one of the fighters bonked the other on the head with the flat of the sword.

The victim of the bonking shouted "Hey!" and took a swipe to their opponent's side. Annabeth lead me to a spare space and took a seat next to me. As she explained all this, the two fighters kept hacking, jabbing, swiping and cursing at each other.

"Mr Chiron takes all the detentions of Mr Tantalus, "Annabeth explained, "and he reckons that if a student is mucking about in class means that they need some distraction. So what better way than having some great exercise and fun at it!"

"By trying to kill each other?" I muttered.

Annabeth laughed, "No, no, no. That's what the armour is for." Well, _silly_ _me_, "Plus everyone is given a run down on the techniques before they actually start fighting someone else. It's actually very safe." I had to admit, it did look fun.

I was about to respond , but a stray sword came whizzing past me and stuck in the wall. Oh yes, very safe, TO THE PEOPLE WHO WERE WEARING THE ARMOUR!

The teacher, Mr Chiron, decided to put an end to the fight, "All right you two, that's enough for now. Let the others have a go with the weapons please. You can continue tomorrow." Jeez, how often are detentions held around here?

The two fighters whined and complained, but Mr Chiron held up his hand, "Please relinquish the armour, gentlemen." I think that everyone had respect for Mr Chiron, because they did as he asked. Eventually.

Annabeth moved off to talk to help someone who was prepping for their fight, and one of the fighters plonked down in her spot.

They took their helmet off to reveal a sweaty brow and a huge grin.

He turned to the closest person, and happened to be me. Oh joy.

"Did you see that move Connor tried to make, and I just totally was like 'No way, José' ' and just owned him with that jab that he couldn't even think of defending. I was like BAM and he was like WHOA." It didn't look like he was finished, but I had had enough of this.

"Yes, that was all very good," I said, "but you knew what was just fantastic? That mazing disarming technique that your partner did that knocked your sword right out of your hands and into the wall. Now that is what I call skill." That sure wiped his gloating smile off his face, but regained his composure just as quickly.

Travis waved off the comment, "Pfft, yeah sure. Like you'd know what I'm talking about. I bet you wouldn't have a clue how to do even a tenth of the stuff I can."

I mentally sighed. No way in hades was I going to continue this, "Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't, because I've never touched a sword before and I've never really wanted to either."

A spark of recognition showed in his eyes. "So you're new one, just moved from a farm or something." He said. I nodded and braced myself for the usual sympathy looks and well-wishing comments about adjusting to the life of a New Yorker. Instead of that, Travis just laughed.

"What?" I demanded.

"Have fun adjusting. I mean a farm to _New York_." He continued chuckling and shaking his head. Of course, I wasn't thrilled to have someone laughing in my face, and it ddn't help that he kept on laughing to himself.

Finally I snapped, "What? What is so dammed funny about it?"

He smirked, "Oh, I'm not laughing at that," he made a face, "that's barely funny. I'm laughing that the expression you get when I laugh. It makes me laugh."

"Well is makes me laugh that it makes you laugh that by laughing I get a laughable expression on my face." I retorted. He didn't respond to that one. He was too busy being confused. I'll admit I was a bit muddled myself.

I moved to another seat and the rest of detention flew by in a blur. Though had to say I did enjoy it. There's just that something special about seeing school kids hacking at each other screaming "WHAT HO!".

As everyone was leaving I was called to stay behind by Mr Chiron. What could he want?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: Why hello again. Sorry if this chapter is a bit dodge, but I wanted to get something up. I will admit right now that there will be unintentional OC characters (namely Chiron) and for that I do apologise. On with the show! **

**But first a disclaimer: Is it really needed to be said? Of course I don't own the PJ series.**

**Now on with the show for real!**

I was walking from school, just out of 'detention'. I wasn't about to admit it to my parents, but I wasn't surprised my class tried deliberately to get in trouble, it was the most fun I've had in ages, even if I did just watch. Kids passed me, keen to get away from school. I was dawdling because my head was swimming with this afternoon's events. Mostly I was thinking about my discussion with Mr Chiron. Just after he called me to stay behind…

* * *

_I made my way to Mr Chiron, who was seated at the teacher's desk. A few kids had hung around after to help pack up the equipment _

"_Yes Mr Chiron?" See, I could be polite when I wanted._

_He turned from instructing the students about the packing up, "I understand that you have just joined this school, today as it is." He started. _

_I nodded in conformation, "Yes sir," I said._

"_I have been informed that you have both ADHD and dyslexia?" Straight to the point, fair enough._

_I clenched my jaw in annoyance as I nodded. I didn't like people mentioning that. It surprisingly didn't make good conversation._

_He sat forward, "I was examining your past results in school and I was wondering if you would consider tutoring a couple of your peers." _

_I paused, why would they want an ADHD and dyslexic kid trying to get children reading words backwards?_

_Seeing my look he continued, "There are actually quite a few of young adults attending this school with the same conditions. We already have some students tutoring," he nodded towards Annabeth, "but it is a bit much for them, plus along with their own school work. I know I'm asking quite a lot of you, Katie. Perhaps in a few weeks time, when you feel more accustomed with the school, you can let me know on your decision."_

_Then to my surprise, Mr Chiron rolled, yes rolled, out from behind the desk to reveal that he was sitting in a wheelchair. I had just realized MR Chiron hadn't actually moved during the whole class. The rest finished up and we headed out of the classroom. _

_Outside of the school, Mr Chiron came to a set of stairs. Instead of going down the ramp, he lifted his front and bumped down the steps. The kids who were still around clapped and WOOed and called out "GO MR CHIRON!" Mr Chiron raised a hand to thank his support crew._

* * *

Someone calling out my name shook me out of my stupor.

"Hey! Hey Katie wait up!" I turned to see Annabeth run up to me. Wow, she really was dedicated to showing me around.

"Hi," I said and she jogged up, "Do you live around here?"

"Yeah, most of us in Chiron's detention class live around this area. Do you know what building you're in?" She said, matching my pace.

I was confused, not a first for today, "What, do you mean the name of the apartment block?"

"Yes. There are twelve of them in the area, all with different names. Everyone who lives in one apartment block is in the same teams in Chiron's group."

"Teams?" One day I'll show you that I can actually make a good conversation, I'll show you all! Problem was Annabeth was just really smart, you just feel dumb talking to her, even if she's just saying passing comment.

"Chiron puts us all in teams to fight against another. We rotate on a roster fighting each other, and sometimes when the school is empty, we get to play capture the flag. Almost all of the school we can go. The teams combine to form two sides, and we play against each other." This 'detention' just getting better and better.

We turned a corner to my street, and only now did I see what Annabeth was talking about with all the apartment blocks.

Right at the front, one on the left and the other on the right were two very regal looking buildings. The one on the left and a huge lightning bolt over the entrance with the word 'Zeus' written on it, along with huge windows that stretched up to the sky. The left one had a large glass door with the word 'Hera' written above, which I could see a fancy lobby through, with peacock feathers being the main decoration. Both seemed to be deserted. Behind the lightning bolt building was a sea green building, which sounded foul, but actually worked well with its interior design of sea shells and statues of horses. A few buildings down I could see mine, covered with vines and the flower beds on the window sills overflowing with the most exotic flowers I would never thought I'd see in Manhattan. I was proud of mine; it had a feel to it. Like home and family. I'd rather have vines than live in those first ones, they just seemed so cold.

"So what building do you live in?" I asked, interested.

"Me? Well, I'm in Athena." She pointed up to a very sophisticated building. With the little knowledge of technology I have (and I'm not being modest), this was one very advanced dwelling. An owl stood over the door, who knew what else it was used for than being part of the décor, which was elegant in a simple way as well.

I nodded in appreciation, examining the outside walls with a keen eye. It was quite masterful work, with just the right amount of class and technology.

"I'm impressed," I admitted truthfully, "the architect did an amazing job. They must have some real talent.

Annabeth's cheeks turned pink. "I actually designed it. It was for a school project, but the owners loved it and asked me if they could use it. They even paid me." Wow, no wonder she was proud of it.

When we reached Annabeth's destination we said good bye and I continued up to mine.

* * *

Later that night I was sharing my eating space with boxes and newspaper, eating some heat-up pre-cooked dinner mum managed to buy from the store down the road. But of course my parents were for some reason inquisitive to how my day went.

"So, how'd it go?" My dad asked, scooping up a clump of something in his dinner, then thought better of it and pushed his plate away.

I thought about all the strange things I'd seen today, and the teachers and people I've met and all the classes I have and Mr Chiron and Annabeth and (for some unknown reason) Travis.

"It was good." I said in reply.

My parents sighed, but knew better than to ask any more, because of past disappointments of responses, such as "fine" "yes" "no" and a shrug.

I finished my dinner, meaning I didn't want to eat anymore of the gloop that looked nothing like was on the front of the packet, and excused myself.

I headed towards my bedroom to get ready. I opened the door and almost jumped out of my skin, instead jumping about five feet in the air. I had an unexpected visitor in my room.

**Why don't you go make me happy and review? All reviewers will get a shout out in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**THERE WILL BE TRAITIE, BELIEVE ME THERE WILL, PLEASE JUST HOLD IN THERE.**_** I have an excuse for not updating for a while. I've been away camping for three weeks, and then I had sort of forgotten the plot (if there was any in the first place). So because of this, you have to read this piece of delightful, yet slightly creepy on Travis' part, fluff.**

**But first, a disclaimer: Honestly what do you think? NO, SADLY NO. I. DON'T. OWN. THE. CHARACTERS. **

A mass of long silky fur leapt at me and pinned me on the ground, licking my face quite enthusiastically and barking as if there was no tomorrow. I knew that bark…

"ARGOS!" My gorgeous dog who I thought had to leave behind at the farm was here! Right here, in my room, licking me so much I wouldn't have to take a shower tonight. I tackled him to the ground and hugged him with my face being nicely cleaned. The hug eventually turned to a belly scratch and his tail dusting my floor, it was wagging so much.

There was a knock on my door; my parents came in with grins on their faces.

"We thought we'd surprise you about Argos here," my dad said, clearing enjoying the sight of my hair plastered to one side.

"I thought we weren't allowed any pets in the building?" I asked.

"Yes, that usually is the case, but seeing that your father knows the tenant, she was lenient enough to bend the rules just for us. Just as long as we didn't try to make a big deal around the rest of the building and kept Argos under control, we could keep him." My mother said beaming at dad. I guessed she loved Argos as much as I did.

I leapt up and gave my parents a huge hug, which they returned. Argos, obviously feeling left out from the group hug nuzzled his way into the middle and demanded to be hugged as well, which of course we did.

* * *

Later that night I was reading in my bed, stroking Argos, when a tap came on my window. I ignored it,thinking that it was pigeons or something. Even when I heard "Katie, let me in!" I didn't think anything of it at first.

_New York pigeons_, I thought_, never knew they could talk. Well it's NY, that's not the weirdest thing they have here. _I froze. Pigeons don't talk. Even if I they are from New York.

I looked up sharply at my window and saw someone outside standing on the fire escape, waving frantically. I recognized him from school. None other than Travis stood outside my window. I was creeped out a little bit.

"Go away," I said loudly,

Perhaps a little bit too loudly because my dad called out "What was that, Katie?" from the lounge room.

"Nothing," I called back, "Just a fly in my room." I turned back to my window, which still had Travis on the other side, giving me a pleading look. I made shooing gestures with my hands, which only seemed to annoy him.

"If you don't let me in I'll break in," he warned.

Unfortunately, due to my stubborn streak, I stuck my chin up and said "Go ahead. Like you could actually get in. It's locked."

He shrugged like, _your fault_, and within a few seconds of fiddling around with my window, he managed to slide in up and jump lightly into my room. He turned to me with a triumphant expression on his face, and was met with my school bag thrown at him. It happened to be the closest object near me.

"What was that for?" He demanded he whispered.

"Get the hell out of my room you pervert!" I whispered furiously, grabbing up my softball bat.

His eyes widened fearfully and he backed up with his hands in the air. "Whoa there, sugar! Just let me stay in here until the patrol passes and then I'm outta your hair. Don't get your knickers in a twist, or smash my head open with that extremely dangerous bat you're wielding there."

"What patrol?" I hiss, hefting my weapon higher.

"The Harpies! They're a gang that go round at night and beat up anyone that passes there way! I would be a bloody mess already if I were down there!" He hastily explained.

"And why do you think you won't be a bloody mess soon?" I ask, and he glances fearfully at my bat.

"Look!" He stammers, "There they are, right there."

I edge up warily and peek out the window. Sure enough there was a group of what looked like really old and really ugly grannies with leather jackets that read 'Harpies from Hades'. I scoffed.

"What did you think they would do?" I ask him, "Knit you to death? Make you look at their cats?"

He looked at me, "You'd be surprised," He said grimly.

I stared at him incredulously, but said no more because I heard my dad switch off the TV, yawn and walk into the bathroom.

Travis started to say something, but was silenced by my hand over his mouth. We stayed like that until I heard my parents snoring peacefully in their room. I removed my hand to see a grin on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What's so funny?" I demand. He gives me a cheeky smile which can only lead to trouble. I looked down. It turns out that Travis, while I was listening intently for sounds of my parents, had wrapped his arms around me. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I pushed him away, feeling one very nice six pack under his shirt, much to my horror. Hot boys are always the smart arses.

Travis jumped out the window and turned round to say goodbye.

"Thanks for letting me in," he winked, "by the way I like your dog." Argos wagged his tail. I fumed.

Suddenly, something dawned on me. Why did he choose my building to climb up on, and why couldn't he just have stayed on the fire escape?

HE flashed me a smug smirk, knowing I must have just realised how peculiar the circumstances were, then disappeared down the fire escape.

I looked down at Argos. "Some guard dog you are, you didn't even bark!" I sat down on my bed and he jumped up as well, earning my forgiveness by laying down and putting his head and a paw on my leg. I stroked his hair.

**By the way, Argos is an actual name of a dog in Greek mythology, cookies to anyone who can tell me from which story. A massive thank-you to all the people (unless you're an alien or something) who reviewed, and the people who pushed those 'Favourite' and 'Follow' buttons. It's really encouraging, as you'll know if you write your own stories. So thank you, thank you, thank you to MagnusBaneLover-InsiderJoke for reviewing on all three chapters, following AND favourite-ing. GracieLou12 and xXAthena-MinervaXx for following as well. And of course my amazing reviewers: Merdisney, Gohsimonkey, MagnusBaneLover-****InsiderJoke, ****secretsilvershadowrebel, KatieKitty99, and those anonymous.**


	5. Chapter 5

I knocked on the door of Chiron's office and heard weary "Come in". I opened the door.

Chiron looked up from what he was doing and saw me walking in. He yawned and put his pen down.

"What can I do for you, child?" He asked tiredly.

"I was just wondering if you still wanted me to help tutor," I said. I didn't really know how to tutor someone, let alone read something the right way up, but I had to pay Annabeth back a favour from a few weeks ago and this seemed like the best way. She must have so many ADHD/dyslexic people to tutor.

Chiron smiled warmly, "Yes of course, we are always looking for helpers. As I said before we do have quite a number of students with dyslexia needing assistance. I have a list somewhere…" He trailed off, looking around the mess of papers cluttering his desk, and a fair amount of space on the floor as well.

"I do apologise for the mess, Latin papers don't grade themselves. Unfortunately." He took his glasses off and wiped them then continued his search. When he realised it was fruitless in the mess he gave up and sat back in his chair.

"Oh, this is ridiculous. Every week I say '_I'll clean this up'_ and it never happens," he shakes his head, "Katie, would you mind terribly if I let you know who you will be tutoring this afternoon in CAMP?" Chiron asked.

"No, that's fine sir. Wait, I mean yes. I mean, no, I don't mind" I stuttered, starting to confuse the both of us.

He gave me a smile, and said "Thank you. You might want to move along, unless I'm mistaken the bell should ring… now" Right on cue, the shrill sound went off, notifying it was class time and deafening the poor people within a twenty metre radius.

I run out into the hall and sprint to my locker. The good part was its last lesson; the bad and more pressing part was that it was sport, which means I needed to get to the PE centre soon, now being more preferable. Unfortunately it's on the other side of the school and I get lost daily in these corridors.

I was sprinting aimlessly through what I thought was a familiar corridor when I ran into Travis, and yes, I literally ran into him. He really should look when walking around corners. It was probably a very comical moment—if you weren't the one who suddenly, and might I add painfully, _crashed_ their head against against Travis'. Needless to say we were both on the floor, clutching our heads in pain.

Travis grimaced as he stood, offering me a hand to help me up.

"I don't know about you, but screw PE. I'm going to the nurse to get an ice pack," Travis mumbled, and then started walking.

I stumbled after him, trying to match his long strides. When I did, I muttered "Sorry, for you know, bashing your head in."

He smirked, "Any time."

After a few more turns, we rounded another corner and finally entered the sick bay.

Travis went straight for a drink from a water cooler, leaving me to ask for the ice packs.

When I asked, the nurse raised an eyebrow, "What were you two doing that made you knock your noggins together, eh?"

I blushed and stuttered an almost incomprehensive reply, going along the lines of "No! No, we we just… I mean he suddenly appeared… I didn't… I wouldn't… He doesn't…. It's a labyrinth out there!" I finished lamely, gesturing wildly around with my hands and succeeding in knocking over not one, but two lamp shades.

The only response I got was a snort, from both the nurse and Travis. She pushed a sign out sheet to me, leaving me to sign out the two ice-packs in a huff.

As soon as Travis and I were out of sight, I shoved Travis just hard enough to make him stumble.

"What was that for?" He asked incredulously.

"You could have helped me back there!" I said furiously. Then I remember my resolution to give him the cold shoulder ever since his unexpected visit to my room via the window. I shut my mouth and turned to face the front.

He rolled his eyes. Jerk.

Seeing as Travis was leading me to class, I unfortunately couldn't storm off. It's hard to show that you're angry at someone when you're relying on them. Just to bug me off, he lead me round the same loop three times. And then he only stopped because I was on the verge of spitting mad. When I tried to stare daggers at him, he broke into laughter, hugging his sides; he barely even noticed we entered the PE centre.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so I had given up on this story because I wasn't getting any response, and I'll be the first to admit that the last few chapters weren't up to standards. So my question is (to those who are actually still following, or those who might be new), would you like this continued? I'll need at least five people who want it, otherwise its going flush.**

**Disclaimer: No. Just, no. I don't own the characters, PJ or anything blahblahblah**

The only satisfying thing of that fiasco with Travis was he was laughing so hard that when they entered the PE centre, he ran into a threatening, albeit small, wall-of-fury, more commonly known as Coach Hedge. This, of course, led Coach to bray—that's right, bray— an order to Travis to "DROP DOWN AND DO FIFTY PUSH UPS WITH ONLY ONE ARM AND IF ANYMORE DISRESPECT LIKE THAT IS SHOWN THE WHOLE CLASS WOULD JOIN, FOLLOWED BY 30 LAPS OF THE SCHOOL!" Needless Travis received plenty of 'encouragement' that lesson.

I was now sitting in the library, waiting for my 'tutor buddy', Will Solace. I had a vague memory of meeting him on my first day, but he never seemed to be around at break, or in any of my classes.

I started doodling on a spare sheet of paper to pass the time, and I ended up drawing my house on the farm. Inspired by Annabeth's keenness for architect, I used some of the technique I inevitably picked up from hanging around her for too long, and I got so obsessed with it I didn't realise someone had walked up behind me and was leaning over my shoulder. That was until I leaned back and stretched back suddenly and wacked him in the chest. I say 'him' because this chest was well defined, and muscular.

I heard an '_ooph' _as I _accidently_ knocked the air out of my victim's lungs. Laughter erupted behind me as I quickly turned around. An apology was just leaving my mouth when I caught sight of the source of laughter, none other than Evil Tweedle Dee, AKA Travis, smirking at me from across the library. What was he doing here? It dawned on me then that Travis— surrounded by text books and sitting next to Annabeth , who was trying to get him to focus on something on a page—has to have tutoring as well. I honestly could not express how thankful I was not to get assigned to him.

I turned my attention back to the person I unwillingly assaulted, and was greeted with a very nice sight to the eyes. This guy has honey blonde hair, and amazingly blue eyes. I didn't get a full view of his body because he was too close, not that I'm complaining.

He grinned and took a step back to give us space. "Will Solace," he said, while extending his hand to shake, "You are Katie right?"

I gave an embarrassed grin back and shook his hand, "Yeah, that's me. And sorry about that just then, I didn't realise you were behind me." I gave him a strange look, "Why were you so close behind me, anyway? Not that it's a problem." I added quickly, then immediately regretting it. _Stop being weird, Katie, you'll freak him out more than you already have._

"Oh, ah," Will rubbed the back of his neck, "I was looking at what you were drawing."

I glanced back at my paper. It was covered in hasty sketches, none too good though, seeing art wasn't my forte. "Right, well, do you want to, um, sit down?" I asked lamely, quite unused to this whole tutoring thing. How hard can it be? Annabeth does it. But then, Annabeth is Annabeth. I gulp When I realise I have no idea what I'm doing. _At least the scenery it good_, I think, eyeing Will as he took a seat across the table.

It turns out the tutoring was fine. I just helped Will through English homework mainly, telling him how I get through the dyslexia, though by the end of it the alphabet was doing a conga line inside my head.

I learnt a lot about Will as well. He's really into music and sport, and finds it hard to juggle that with school, but his mum wants him to finish school. He wants to finish school too, but with the ADHD and dyslexia it gets incredibly hard sometimes, and his parents don't realise. But the best part was he just happened to mention he's single. _Don't jump to conclusions, Katie, it might not mean anything. _Oh who am I kidding, he wants to go out with me and I'll have an amazingly hot boyfriend that can play loads of instruments and…. And there's me jumping to conclusions.

* * *

As I'm walking home from the library, I hear someone call my name. I turn around and there's my whole detention class group, with Annabeth waving for me to come over, which I do.

"Hey Katie," Annabeth says, her eyes shining with excitement, "Do you want to play capture the flag?"

**And there you go. If you want me to continue, please review or PM me. If you have any ideas that you want, feel free to let me know. I'm open for whatever.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Finally, the next chapter! Please do enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the PJO series, Travis and Katie would have already kissed. So no, I don't.**

"_Hey Katie," Annabeth says, her eyes shining with excitement, "Do you want to play capture the flag?"_

I glance around at all the excitement buzzing through the others around me, and I feel a grin start on my face.

"Whatever is making this bunch of uncontrollable kids this pumped has got to be either very dangerous or very wild. Or both." My grin grew wider, "I'm in."

"Great! Chiron will go over the rules in a second." Annabeth said, "And if you have any questions, ask me after we split."

"Thanks," I say as Chiron calls for silence.

It took a while, but eventually there was hush amongst the group.

Chiron took that as his cue and started explaining.

"Welcome to this months' Capture the Flag contest. I will briefly go over the rules, as it seems some of us," His eyes passed over the group, lingering on some of the burlier looking teenagers, "Forget every time that this is not, in fact, a battle field, but merely a fun, extra-curricular activity and a chance to demonstrate your skills learnt in C.A.M.P."

"And a few extra reminders," Chiron continued as he pulled out a clip board and read from it," No maiming, no killing, no illegal use of weaponry outside ones provided, no physical abuse; keeping these in mind, injury will be at participants own cost. There will be punishment to those who do not follow these rules. I will be field medic, in case someone does not adhere to rules, which will not happen, will it?" He paused as his piercing eyes swept the crowd for affect, "I will also be referee, as always, so please come to me, and me alone, if there are any disputes amongst players. The winning team will be the first to have the opposite team's flag cross the middle of the Athletics open track and field stadium. I now ask you to go into your teams—Athena, Hermes, Demeter and Hephaestus on my left, and Poseidon, Apollo and Ares on my right. You have five minutes to explain strategies. Go."

We all crowded into a tight circle, away from the other group so we wouldn't be overheard as Annabeth told the tactics we were going to take.

"I want Athena and Hermes on offence, and Hephaestus on defence protecting the flag. Demeter cabin can spread out, you'll be our first and last lines of defence, so you'll need a sharp eye and look out for any traps; they'll be trying to deceive you. That's goes for all of us, got it? Now offence, you guys will sneak in and avoid being seen at all costs until the signal is given by me—it'll be three hoots of an owl. Travis and Connor, I want you guys do what we discussed a few days ago. The other team will have their flag by the pool. You guys will sneak up and distract the defence line enough that we can slip through. Got it?" Everyone nodded, like war tactics were the complete norm. Which, I had found out, actually were.

Chiron blew an ominous sounding horn and both teams split up to move to their given places. Through the thick of all the movement, I couldn't find Annabeth to ask what in hades she meant, nor any of my fellow Demeter teammates to follow.

I let out an exasperated huff. How was I supposed to do anything if I didn't know what it was?

As the crowd dispersed I saw Travis and Connor walking quickly away, heads down and talking quietly, with lots of small hand gestures. They were the only people I knew on my team I could see, and I was running out of options—I couldn't sit out on this! I saw plenty of Aphrodite kids doing exactly that, and didn't seem high in respect on anyone's list. I gritted my teeth and followed the Terrible Two.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~line break*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Guys! Wait up!" I puffed in annoyance when Travis and Connor didn't acknowledge my plea, and I sped up.

"Guys," I repeated as I reached them, "Guys, can I stick with you two for now?"

They both looked around with identical surprised expressions; I had to hold back a laugh. They were both so damn alike, it was hilarious.

"Why?" Travis asked, looking suspicious. Neither of them slowed their fast pace, and with their legs being longer, I almost had to jog to keep up.

"Because I enjoy your company to much Stoll, or haven't you noticed?" I rolled my eyes, "Because everyone else cleared off before I had the chance to ask what in hades we're doing? Can I just stay with you until I get oriented?"

Connor's head shot up, and I could almost see the light bulb hovering over him. He pulled Travis down and whispered something quickly, and Travis nodded and they both pulled back.

"Katie, do you wanna help us with our special mission?" Travis asked, grinning.

"And what exactly is that?" I was on edge. Anything that got the Stoll twins excited had to be bad news.

"You'll see." This was the only answer I received. I didn't have much of a choice, so when they grabbed my elbows from either side and steered me along, I didn't refuse as I normally would have.

Connor let go and slipped into the shadows of the training centre near overlooking the pool, while Travis made way for the diving boards, crouching down behind them and waving me forward.

I stayed out of sight of the defenders from the opposite team standing in a circle around their flag. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a flash as one of our team members went into hiding, waiting for the signal from Annabeth. As I got into place beside Travis, he told me to keep watch, and then let out some sort of bird call, which sounded weirdly life-like, and waited to listen out for a response. When one came, from where I couldn't pin point exactly, Travis grinned and called out in a clear voice, "Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda? He was lucky it was a soft drink!" I stared at him incredulously—of all the things to say, and it was a bad pun.

There was quiet all around, the opposite team were looking around for the source of noise, which they couldn't locate. They huddled closer together, with their weapons poised, ready for an impending attack. Which there wasn't. All there that happened was a snort of laughter from wherever Connor was hiding.

"Well, I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down." Connor called out from his hiding spot. The group of defenders were getting even more edge, heads swivelling from side to side trying to figure out where the source of bad jokes was coming from.

"I'm sure glad I know sign language, it's pretty handy." Came Travis' response. A snort came from one of the defenders in the tight circle, but a quick elbow to their ribs shut them right up.

A light bulb flicked on above my head, just like Connor's had before. Travis and Connor were _distracting_ the opposite team, taking their attention away from their job to focus on their bad jokes. But the Stolls would have to step it up a notch if they wanted to lead any of them away from the tight knit circle they've formed.

Sure enough, Connor made a different approach.

"Hey," he called out, "Remember that time, when Kayla made out with Antaeus when she was totally smashed drunk, and the video went viral?"

"WHAT?" Screeched one of the girls in the defenders team, "We didn't even!" One of the guys beside her laughed.

"And Austin," Travis started on the guy who was making fun of Kayla, "When he tried to ask that exchange girl, Kenzie, out on a date and ended up hanging from the flag pole by his underwear."

"She tried to ask _me_ out!" A guy who must have been Austin said quickly.

Connor, who was obviously on just warming up, called out again, "And then Austin went and asked Kampê, Scylla _and_ Sybaris, but was rejected by all three of them!"

"They said they couldn't make it that night!" Austin protested. His group around him laughed.

"Austin, you wouldn't be able to ask Skolopendra out without being rejected!" One of his friends called out.

"You're on! Twenty bucks says I can!"

While they were distracted, Travis turned to me and asked, "Katie, do you trust me?"

"No."

He grinned, "Excellent. I need you to go out there and get their attention, then run like all hell to lead them away."

"No!"

"You can do it!" He encouraged, "Just use your feminist power! You have plenty of it!"

"I don't know whether that's a compliment or not."

He looked imploringly at me, and I gave up, "Fine! I'll do it."

"Go get em', Kitty Kat!"

I gritted my teeth and creeped out from my hiding spot, to the centre of the side of the pool.

"Hello?" I called out. Alright I didn't really call it out, more like half-whispered.

I looked back at Travis, _What do I do? _I mouthed. He motioned his hands, like saying _Go on_. I shook my head. He rolled his eyes and ran out to me.

"Hey guys!" He yelled out, quickly capturing the attention of the bantering group.

Travis reached me, gave me a quick wink, and kissed me.

I quite enjoyed it.

He was holding my head, and I brought my hands up to slide through his curly hair.

I don't know how long we stayed like that for, but away from Lala Land, I heard a couple of cat calls and a wolf whistle, then a big thunk like somebody being hit on the head.

"Stop goggling and go get them as prisoners! Wait! Not all of you!"

We broke apart, me more for air than the impending attack. Travis grabbed my hand and yelled "RUN!"

So we did. Exactly according to plan, the other chased us away from the flag, leaving only on person to guard it. I heard three clear owl hoots, and the offence from our team came streaming in from our hiding place to grab the flag and take it to the athletics field.

Still holding my hand, Travis bolted for the school blocks, me just managing to keep up. He had a huge smile plastered on his face, whether because of our kiss, or the thrill of the chase.

Soon enough we reached the maze like hallways, which were still thankfully open, and ran through hall after hall, trying to lose our chasers. We skidded round a corner, and Travis grabbed hold of me to prevent me from flying past. He put a finger to his lips, asking me to be silent while he listened. After a short while he grinned. "We lost them!" He announced.

"Great," I said. He turned to look at me from where he had been glancing around, probably trying to get his bearings, and saw my face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong, Travis Stoll, is you just kissed me in front of the school as a _distraction_ for a game, then expect me to be just fine and dandy about it!"

"It wasn't in front of the whole school!" He protested.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is? What's such a big deal for you to be getting so angry? It– " He swallowed, "– It was just a kiss."

"Well it was my first kiss! You took that away from me! Made it cheap, worthless—a joke!"

There was silence between us, and in the distance we heard a horn blow.

"Just get me out of here, Travis."

He obliged, and soon enough we came out to see our team celebrating. I was in no mood for festivity, so I slipped out of the school grounds and made my way home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Line break*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I slammed the door closed behind me and stormed into my apartment.

Dad looked up from the newspaper he was reading and raised one of his eyebrows, "Something up?"

I threw my arms up, "People are complicated and stupid. I'm going to be a hermit for the rest of my life."

Dad turned back to his newspaper, "I'll see you at dinner then."

**So there you have it! That is definitely the longest chapter by far, and they finally kiss! **

_**PLEASE leave a review**_**— how'd you like this chapter, any grammatical/spelling errors, whether I got all their characters right—I'm open to anything and everything, and encourage constructive criticism and improving my work and writing style. Plus, reviews make me write faster! **


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